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Chapter Text

"Mr. Nergal, if I may speak to you."

"Mephisto, I was sure I had told you not to bother me without reason."

"It is regarding Leon. You will want to hear."

"... You may speak."

"Leon has successfully delivered an heir,"

"Yes, I was informed by a servant. What of them?"

"Leon is stable, recovering last I checked, as is the infant; a daughter."

"Hmph — disappointing, I was hoping for a male heir. It was hard enough to get him pregnant once — I am not fond of the idea of doing it all over again. Mephisto,"

"Hm?"

"Tell Deus and Beryl to keep back from Leon — for now. When he is ready again, we will try a second time."

"Yes sir."

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Minor Vulgarity, Implication Of Sex]

"."

".."

"..."

"sigh God this is hopeless!"

Turtle sank into her covers, her stomach to the bed and she jammed her face into her pillow.

One of her creatures – Quick Slide – hung by with a soft look on her maw as she shook her head, and sat down around Turtle, speaking slowly as she crinkled her expression, "... I did try to warn you... only Nergal has the ability to travel realms, and even he has a time limit.."

"You are a child, Turtle-"

"-Yeah! HIS child! I feel like that should account for something!" Turtle snapped irritably, shooting her companion a glare as Quick Slide flinched, and pouted.

She furrowed her mismatched grey brows, and thumped her tail back and forth on the mattress, whining, "So now you want him to be your father? But I thought-"

"No! Nuh-uh! No buts! I didn't say I wanted him to be my father, god damn it, I said he IS my father! There's a difference!"

"Not a huge difference... oooh, stop confusing me, Turtle! One second you want Nergal and Deus and Beryl and Mephisto to be your father's, and then the next-" Quick Slide began to complain.

"NO! STUFF YOUR BIG, STUPID MOUTH, I DIDN'T SAY I WANTED ANY OF THEM TO BE MY FATHERS, THEY JUST ARE." Her tone was sharp, bladed like a knife, and sounded greatly annoyed. Quick Slide pinned back her ears, hurt by the scolding as Turtle then added, "... Except for Leon. I like Leon."

"Well we knew that because your big mouth can't shut the fuck up about it..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing!"

Turtle shot the towering creature an unamused scowl, and the wolf gave a sheepish look. Groaning, Turtle stuffed her face back into the pillow, hissing curses to herself.

"I barely even have the mana reserves to make a portal, let alone hold it open..." She muttered.

"... Normally, I'm not one to encourage bad behaviour, especially with Nergal around – he's pretty scary himself – but maybe you could... borrow some mana? Just enough to make a portal..?" Saturn offered a little reluctantly, tapping her chin with a dark claw.

... Alright, the girl would admit, that idea wasn't half bad. But... "Then comes the problem of getting them to let me borrow it. They all hate my guts besides Mephisto and Leon – but Mephisto doesn't trust me enough and Leon doesn't really have any mana to give, if I must REMIND YOU."

"... I mean... I have an alternative, but you wouldn't like it..." Quick Slide wrinkled her expression to an indistinguishable look.

"Hit me with it, I'm desperate."

"No, like... at all..."

"..."

"..."

"... Never mind, not that desperate."

Turtle then spoke in addition with a forceful tone behind her gritted teeth, "And you know what Quick Slide? You can stuff that god damn idea right back up your ass where it came from, because I know exactly what you're implying and I am not fucking doing that." She spat grimly.

Quick Slide gave a faintly offended response, and mumbled sourly, "You asked to hear it..."

Turtle pinned back her long ears, the gold earrings clinking softly as she did. "Well I didn't ask for THAT, I asked for an alternative. Not... baby-making – as if any of them would even bother."

Quick Slide lashed her tail. "Well if you're like Leon – which I assume you are – then you won't have to worry about a baby..."

"But that's also super gross, so-" Her wolf had begun again, when at the same time, Turtle cut her off and added, "-That is also absolutely disgusting, you great lump of bones and lard."

The dragonoid huffed, pouting her lower lip. "Ok, I get it, I get it, you don't have to insult me..."

Turtle hesitated, then raised a questionable brow. "Where did you even get that idea? What kind of twisted bullshit are you peeking in on?"

"No, no!" Quick Slide squealed incredulously. "I wasn't peeking in on anything, I just heard Leon muttering and you know I had to figure out what he was mumbling about and then I heard him talking about how he can get mana from s-"

"NOPE, NOPE, I'M GOING TO STOP YOU RIGHT THERE, I DO NOT NEED TO HEAR THE REST." Turtle lashed her head away with a deep huff, and Saturn put her paw pads to her maw.

"Ok, jeez..." She mumbled. "... You know what, you seem a little... uh... tense right now, sooooo... I'll leave you to your bearings and then we can catch up later, sound good? Perfect and I'm out,"

Before Turtle could even open her mouth to retort, the dragonoid had already fumbled off of the bed, tangling her paws on the bed sheets with a yelp as she tripped. Stumbling, she scurried up – which was quite comical to watch for such a large creature – and hurried out of the room, her long, spined tail vanishing behind her.

Slowly, she laid her head back on the bed with a snort as she thought.

... God, how am I ever going to leave this place...

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Minor Vulgarity]

(Roughly Around 4 Days Later)

"No... no... still no..."

She was slumped, in the centre of the massive library that crowned one of the rooms in the cavernous castle, her chin resting in the palm of her hand, as she flipped through page after page of book after book after book that was piled up all around her in search of some kind of answer – some kind of idea or solution to her travel mana predicament.

Sitting around her, roughly around two times Turtle's height of five-foot-four even while just sitting at the biggest – was her wolves: Quick Slide, Armageddon, and Two-Step.

Armageddon was tall – the biggest of all her creatures, standing around seventeen foot at the head — and rippled with powerful muscles and plated skin. She was scary and dragonoid, with sharp edges to her large body. Brighter red hued each crease of wrinkles on her scaly skin, gray talons adorning each toe. Grey spines with orange tips crowned her head and all down her spine to her thin and plated tail. Her snout was long and sharp, with dark orange eyes, and a narrow snout that hid fierce white teeth. Armageddon's face remained faintly bored, and a little irritated with Turtle's antics.

As for Two-Step, she was smaller than Armageddon, being around nine-foot-four, but it did not make her any less ferocious. She was less outerly muscled, with a sleeker body and lighter bones (or so Turtle assumed, she hadn't actually confirmed it). Her body was not as defined, and more smoothed over with leathery skin. Instead of any front legs, she instead had a massive set of wings with dark purple, leathery wing membrane. Her body and wings faded from a darker gray-purple to white at the belly and throat, a dark purple sail running from her head to the tip of her fanned tail. Her back legs were muscles and powerful, with sharp gray talons on each wing finger and toe. Her face was shorter, but still sharp in features nonetheless, with a long tongue, gray green eyes, and vicious white teeth.

And Quick Slide was the smallest of them all, at about eight-foot tall. She was rather lean, with a long broad snout — a hook of her upper snout making it almost look like she had a bit of an overbite. She was pale in color, fading to a darker gray-pink-brown as her belly and lower legs. Her tail was long, mirrored with spines that faded from dark orange to light orange. Her head was crowned with spikes — as well as the sides of her belly and the back of her front legs, fading from a dark gray to a lighter gray. Her talons were a near shiny, black color; her eyes a brighter orange — her head retaining a pair of long, tattered scaly ears.

After a cold, silent moment of Turtle muttering to herself, Armageddon gave a dragged, dramatic groan, and cracked her tail into the air like a whip, hissing softly. "God, Turtle, how long must we sit here?! We've been here for eight hours, watching you flip page after page after goddamn page, and I will go MAD if you flip one more!"

"Shut up, I must think!" Turtle snapped angrily, massaging her temples with a frustrated look. "God, for being such a smart ass, Mephisto's books are completely useless when I actually NEED THEM."

"That's probably because no one's DUMB ENOUGH to try and attempt world travelling if they CAN'T DO IT-" Armageddon began to rattle.

"I WILL do it! I just need to find the right spell or book to show me how!" Turtle spat back.

Two-Step barked back swiftly, "Mephisto probably figured you were up to some kind of crazy bullshit again and hid all the useful stuff because he knew your ass was going to attempt something stupid!"

She bared her fanged teeth, annoyed as she pinned back her ears, the purple jeweled earrings glittering in the lights overhead. Infuriated – both from the lack of the results and the actual fact that Two-Step's suggestion could be a very real possibility – she lashed out sharply, "Love you all dearly, but shut up! Just keep looking, I don't want to have to live in this damn place any longer then I have to!"

"But we've been searching for foreverrrrrrr... I'm tired and I keep getting paper cuts on my pads..." Quick Slide whined, gingerly stroking her grey-pink tongue over the tiny little slits on her leathery feet.

"Rrrrrgh..." She growled, burying her face deep into her hands when she finally snarled, but sighed grudgingly, caving it. "FINE! Fine! We'll take a break... but only for a little!"

Quick Slide gave a long, relieved sigh, and flopped on her back right next to Turtle, sighing a long, long sigh as she spoke, "Oh thank the gods..."

Slowly, all three of her massive creature-companions loafed out onto the ground of the library, huddling around Turtle – their caretaker – seemingly less tense despite the prior fight just a few seconds ago as Quick Slide nudged her smooth snout into Turtle's hands, and laid her head onto Turtle's lap.

One thing that was true, they could never stay mad at each other for very long.

With a crude, but reluctant sigh, she leaned against Armageddon's enormous, scaled shoulder blade, and closed her violet eyes.

... Some rest could do her good.

Besides, she'd be a little more coherent in her vigorous searching if she had the mental rest to handle it.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Minor Vulgarity]

".... Hey, hey problem girl, wake up."

Turtle's expression twitched, and formed into a scowl before she even opened her eyes to see who the voice belonged to that was slowly pulling her from sleep.

Oh, and the shove too.

It was brisk as she toppled over into Quick Slide with a yelp, her companions stirring protectively as they turned, and groggily bared their teeth at the newcomer, their talons tensing and untensing. But they couldn't seem any more unimpressed as they folded their arms, and gave a half frown.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you all think you're so scary. Now come on, get up. Mephisto needs his library back and you've practically trashed it. What are you even looking so hard for, you mind?"

"No you great oaf, it's none of your BUSINESS. And at least Mephisto knows that I know how to put stuff back unlike SOMEONE I could name," Turtle wearily grumbled, slowly slitting open a violet eye to make sure it was who she thought it was as she stood up.

They were tall — taller than her at least — at least around five-foot-eight, with smoothly toned muscles, and dusty brown skin, their head was crowned with textured off-white hair tied with cloth into a low, tight ponytail that Turtle almost thought resembled a lion tail. Their eyes were fierce and red — unlike her cold, luminous violet eyes that she inherited from Leon (by some miracle, since Deus, Beryl, Nergal, and Mephisto all have red eyes, and Leon's the only one with purple eyes and blonde hair) — but their pupils were slit and cat-like, much like hers. They had two thick triangular stripes of the same off-white colour as their hair on either side of their jaw bone and cheeks, and when they scowled, their teeth were sharp, with pointed fangs. Their pointed ears were more stout, and broad, not like her long thin ears.

Definitely Heredero, her younger brother, and the biggest pain in the ass.

Heredero pouted in irritation at Turtle's unwillingness to cooperate, and frowned. "Well he needs his library back, so out!"

"You don't get to boss me around! I should be bossing you around!" She growled, trying to size him up — which didn't work very well due to both their height and build difference.

Heredero sneered down at her, and growled back, "Well as the future ruler of Dark Fall-"

"Future ruler my ass, you act as if I care!"

"You should, because the first thing I'll do when I become ruler is skin you and feed your revolting bratty corpse to the goblins!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Watch me!"

As Heredero tensed, and went to lunge for her, a neutral, silky tone interrupted, along with the clicking of shoes as they entered the room.

"Calm down, both of you. I don't want to have to make another report to Nergal that you two keep bickering like toddlers throwing a tantrum."

"And, Heredero, I will not tell you again, I do not mind her being in the library so long as she puts everything back where it was." He sighed, shaking his head as he strode past the two tense siblings, and the three snarling wolves.

They were maybe six-foot-four, and adorned a long white lab coat that ran down to below their knees. They wore a grey shirt underneath, the pointed edges flattened over the hem of the lab coat, with long black pants, fingerless gloves, and painted nails of the same shadowy color to match. The figure's hair, in the white library light overhead, seemed to be a shade of slightly dark blue-purple, and the sclera of their left eye was a deep shade of black, one that a person could get lost in. His pupils, just like hers and Herederos and everyone else's, were vertically slit and black, with a monocle over their left eye, but no chain to connect as a small strip of metal was arched over his nose. Their ears were pointed at the tips with small stud earrings — likely silver.

Both by appearance, and the fine-tuned notes in the words of their voice, Turtle recognized the man as Mephisto, her fathers — and Heredero's fathers — Nergal's right-hand man.

"But-" Heredero began, incredulous at the intervention of the demon scientist.

"Heredero. My library, my rules." Mephisto spoke in a sharp voice, eyeing the boy. Heredero gave a gulp, and reluctantly bowed his head at the look Mephisto was giving him.

Even beneath such a neutral, usually composed exterior, both Turtle and Heredero had seen a more aggressive, threatening side of him at some point in time — and they simultaneously did not like one bit — so they knew when to shut up and back up around him.

"... Now, Turtle, clean up this mess. It took a long time to organise all these books and I do not want them disarrayed as a result of carelessness." He waved a hand dismissively at her while Quick Slide, Armageddon, and Two-Step flattened their ears scornfully as Turtle slowly nodded.

She mumbled in response, "Yes Mephisto..." And even with his sceptical look, he seemed pleased enough with that.

As Mephisto walked past the two of them, there was a low crackle as one of his many, many tentacles sprouted out his back, slithering from the large slit on his grey shirt, gathering up all the piled books as Turtle slowly scooped up one of the several piles into her arms, and made her way back to one of the towering shelves to put them all back.

Heredero shot her a dirty look, as if to say 'you're lucky Mephisto was here, because if he wasn't I would have torn you limb from limb', and Turtle gave him a cold glare back from over her shoulder that said 'try me'.

But after a moment, Heredero reluctantly backed away, and disappeared out of the library, slamming the door behind him.

...

..

.

..

...

The room fell silent, besides the rustling of her now snoozing companions, Turtle putting the books back in the order that the demon scientist had originally organised them in, and Mephisto moving about the space doing who knows what.

She had to fight back the sigh that threatened to pour out of her mouth. Yet another day, where she failed to find anything. No answer, no hint, no clue, no solution... not yet at least...

Then I'll try again tomorrow. And the day after that, and the next. I'll try as many days as it takes, she thought confidently.

I'll find my way out of this place, one way or another.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Implication Of Sex]

(Roughly Another 5 Days Later)

"Sometimes Turtle, I get the feeling that you just don't know when to quit."

She — decidedly on her own accord — had decided to visit her father, Leon, amidst her search for a way out of Dark Fall. Turtle knew she could trust him with this information— if anything, he was the only person she could trust in general, since everyone else in this castle sucked.

And now, as she was lying flat on the floor stomach down, several open or piled books nearby, Turtle groaned, and slumped her head into the pages.

"I know that, I know! I just... sigh I feel so close yet so far to figuring this OUT." She mumbled with clear frustration.

Leon tilted his head down at her, and raised a quizzical brow as he sighed, slightly pouting his lower lip as he turned away to stare out of the window in his chambers. "... Look, Turtle, I know how much you want to leave, I get it. If I had a choice myself, I'd get back all my mana and slaughter Deus and Beryl and Mephisto and Nergal — almost especially Deus and Nergal, I may spare Heredero — but we can't have everything."

"Unless you have the mana strength to fight them all — which I know you don't — you're not going to win."

"Then I'll win some other way!" Turtle exclaimed. "If we can't have everything, that means they don't! That means this entire desolate hellscape doesn't — if it has anything at all besides rocks, monstrosities, and more rocks! They're has to be some kind of weakness, some kind of thin point in the rifts, I just have to find it..."

"..."

There was silence from Leon at this, but for the first time in a while, he gave an amused snort, and spoke in a neutral voice — as if it was neither good nor bad, "Hmph... you remind me of Mephisto sometimes, with your persistence in finding a possibility in the impossible."

"But it can't be impossible if Nergal can do it,"

"Are you Nergal?

"... Well, no, but-"

"Then save your energy. No one else in this castle — in this whole damn 'hellscape' — can travel worlds, let alone permanently. Even Nergal can't do such a thing. You'll have to come back eventually if you want to live, and I know you know that."

Turtle frowned up at her father, pouting incredulously. Leon looked right back at her, his violet eyes slowly drifting to the books that Turtle had thieved from Mephisto's library — again. Finally, Leon sighed, and patted a spot on his bed next to him.

"... Come on Turtle, you look like you could use a break." He said in a plain voice.

Reluctant to halt her searches in case she found something, Turtle slowly got up, and slouched down next to her father on the bed, staring glumly out the window with her head resting in the palm of her hand.

They sat in quiet again, when Leon put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to lead her head on his shoulder. But he did not look at her as he grumbled, "I know child, you long for someplace new, and I can not blame you. After all, this place isn't much to look at," Leon chuckled softly, "but there's nothing that you can do. Not yet, and maybe, not ever, and believe me, I've tried. Tough luck."

Turtle pouted angrily, but leaned her head onto his shoulder slowly, sighing grimly as she muttered, "Well I hate tough luck..."

"I know you do." Leon muttered back.

A couple of minutes went by without words. There was nothing else at the time that needed to be spoken, when there was a rapping on his door.

Both she and Leon turned their heads with furrowed brows, as a figure stepped in, light on their feet, but still retaining a certain sort of power to their footsteps.

Turtle was met with clear red eyes, and a tall, angular figure. His skin was light — but not particularly pale — with long, silky grey hair that ran down past his shoulders. He was maybe six-five wearing a stylish black outfit, a deep 'V' running down the front side to the centre of his chest with a black turtleneck underneath. Their sleeves were long, with long cuffs at the end of their sleeves, the hems of their top piece lined with silver. It was Nergal, one of her several fathers (though he was technically her biological father) — and the one she disliked the most.

She narrowed her eyes, hissing from her throat as Nergal regarded the two of them, and greeted in a cold voice, "Turtle."

"Nergal." Turtle greeted back in the same frigid voice.

Nergal slitted his red eyes at his daughter, and tilted his head slightly upward in a gesture of superiority as he ordered, "Out."

"Why should I?"

"Turtle do not disobey. Out."

"... Fine."

She spat out with an openly spiteful voice. With reluctance, Turtle got up from the bed as Leon withdrew his arm from her shoulders. Shooting daggers at Nergal, she gathered up the books she'd left on the floor, and hissed low behind her clenched teeth as she left the room, leaving Nergal and Leon behind.

It made her blood boil, as she knew exactly Nergal wanted to do with Leon, and Turtle couldn't stand that, especially since knowing that Leon had not wanted it — neither before nor after having to bear both Turtle and Heredero (though while Leon did not like Heredero one bit, he was tolerant of Turtle).

But, as she strode past her creaturws that had been loafed out in her room to dump the books onto her bed, she thought about what Leon had said.

'Unless you have the mana strength to fight them all — which I know you don't — you're not going to win.'

'But there's nothing that you can do. Not yet, and maybe, not ever, and believe me, I've tried. Tough luck.'

A part of her wanted to deny it. Deny that her efforts — in the end — would likely, if not entirely be fruitless. But no matter how much Turtle tried to keep convincing herself, she knew he was right.

Without enough skill — and mana — she'd never be able to accomplish what she really wanted. And even if she did, there'll always be setbacks. Time limits, world adjusting, the need to return before she died, everything.

Tough luck.

But it didn't mean she wouldn't try anyway.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: N/A]

Turtle was resting against Armageddons leathery reddish-black belly, her hands behind her heads as she stared at the ceiling, unable to close her eyes and go to sleep.

Quick Slide and Two-Step stirred nearby, her pale companion snoring loudly as Two-Step and Armageddon growled simultaneously, her grey-purple creature swatted Quick Slide on the snout, mumbling for her to 'stuff her loudly snout or she'd do it for her' as Quick Slide squeaked, and curled around to the other side, away from the winged dragonoid with a pitiful mumble as she rolled against the other side of Armageddons pocket, and went back to sleep.

Rolling her eyes, she shifted position, and buried her face into Armsgeddon's thick skin with a long sigh.

Think... there has to be something I can do... something I must have overlooked...

But what? I'm pretty sure I've gone through about half of Mephisto's library to find nothing, and I know don't have enough mana to challenge anyone, and I can't steal any, not that I know of at least.

And I can't ask anyone for suggestions... Leon doesn't know anything, and I can't have anyone else — especially Heredero — knowing about this, because Heredero will definitely run his mouth about it to Nergal, Deus, Beryl, and Mephisto.

And Mephisto's books are of no help either. He probably hid all the good stuff from me anyways. God, this is such a pain...

Turtle turned her head, glaring out a window nearby.

Running away had always been my first option... but then comes the next problem: I'd be at the mercy of any monstrous creatures that live outside the castle, and I'm still in Dark Fall. I don't want to be in Dark Fall. This place just makes me sick of seeing rocks, rocks, and more rocks, with the occasional creature or two. But besides that, there's no life.

I've heard and read about all kinds of things from that blasted demon scientist's books... huge towering things called 'trees', and these little dainty growing stuff called 'flowers' that I hear smell pretty good, and all those random story books that he brings back occasionally... that's what I want to see, not this bland, desolate land I've seen all my life.

If Nergal — of all people — gets to see all this cool stuff, why can't I? I mean, Deus, Nergal, Beryl, Mephisto, and Heredero already hate my guts. What's the harm in sending me away, anyway?

.

..

...

.... But I can't leave Leon behind, nor can I leave behind my wolves. I love them too much, and I care too much to leave any of them behind. But trying to take all of them with me at once would require far more mana than I can even hold...

.

..

...

"No, I don't have to leave them behind, or bring them all at once. I can go and try to bring Leon — because as much as I love my creatures, Leon is my first priority — and I get him out and safe, and then I can regain my mana and go back for the rest-"

"Yowch, that's harsh," Armageddon rumbled, her deep, slightly baritone voice thundering in her chest as Turtle fought back a gasp.

"Oh, sorry Armageddon, I didn't mean to say that aloud," Turtle whispered, scratching the enormous black wolf behind the creases of her scaly head.

Armageddon slowly thudded her thin tail against the floor of her bedroom in an irritated wag as she rumbled. "... Fine, ok, I forgive you, now go to bed Turtle. I'm trying to sleep and you think too loud."

Turtle shifted again, and scooted a little further into the skin between her creatures belly and back leg, resting her cheek against the space between Armageddon's gray-orange spines. "Ok, ok, alright dad," Turtle teased quietly. Armageddon quaked again in a low, amused but unimpressed growl, but soon returned back to sleep as Turtle continued to think.

... I'll take Leon with me first, he deserves a better life than what he got here — I don't care what anyone else says, my father doesn't deserve to be treated this way.

I bring Leon somewhere safe — where he can be protected and comfortable, not tormented and subjected to such treatment as this — and then when I have enough mana, I'll go back, and I take Two-Step, and Armageddon, and Quick Slide with me, and then we can all be safe.

But then what about the time limit? How am I going to fix that?

...

I suppose we could come back periodically and just steer clear of the castle, just long enough to put us in the clear again so we can go back...

And then comes the mana problem again... it takes a ton of mana and energy to go back and forth...

Then I'll figure it out. For my sake, for my wolves sake, and most importantly, Leon's sake.

.

..

...

For my sake,

For their sake,

And for my fathers sake,

I'll do whatever it takes to make sure they're safe.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Minor Vulgarity]

And so, the next morning, it was back to the books in Mephisto's library,

...

And the morning after that,

...

And the morning after that too,

...

Aaaaaand the morning after that...

At one point, through irritated eyes and a tired brain, she heard a voice speaking to her, "What the hell are you doing?"

She gritted her teeth for a moment as her wolves huffed, lashing their tails. Definitely Deus, she thought.

Turtle checked over her shoulder with a furrowed brow. Deus was probably the one who despised her the most, mostly for the reason that Turtle had the guts to dare piss him off without the mana to back up her threats (in which Leon was not very amused by, knowing Deus's capabilities and his tendencies to torment those weaker than him).

"Reading," she answered gruffly, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

Deus scowl-smirked (Turtle could never really tell with him) down at her with his sharp teeth. He was tall and broad chested, with tan skinned, and impressively defined muscles. Much like everyone else in this god forbidden castle besides Turtle and Leon, his irises were fiery and red, with slit black pupils. Deus adorned a black, short-sleeve turtle-neck, alongside off-white or cream-silver hair that was bound low by gray-golden fabric-cuff, and ran down to about his lower back. He had long, pointed ears, which was likely the only similarity that she and Deus shared despite their similar nature to be an ass to everyone (especially Beryl. They shared a mutual dislike for the wolf-beast demon).

But, what she always had to remember most: his mana power.

He was strong indefinitely. Not strong enough to beat Nergal (probably), but still strong enough to kick her ass. One thing that Turtle had to definitely be wary about was his shock mana. Deus often turned his mana into electricity, or the ability to phase through walls which Turtle found a little unsettling. Especially with that blasted shock collar that Deus could just materialize that she'd heard about from Leon, it would probably be best to keep a good distance.

"Reading, eh? And, what, are your lizards having nightmares? Do they need a bed time story?" Deus scoffed, and Turtle was quick to retort, flashing her white teeth as she wrinkled her expression.

"No, fuck-brain, reading so I don't end up some dull knife as you." Turtle spat.

He raised a brow, 'tsk'ing with his mouth. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He's a moron, I swear, she thought as she snarled, "It means you're stupid! I'm calling you dumb!"

"Hah! And you think you're any better?!"

"Oh I think I'm a hell of a lot better!"

Deus sneered sharply down at her as he tensed, sizing her up. Turtle snarled, and stood up too, though her size didn't really make her all the intimidating compared to him. He seized the hem of her shirt yanking her close as he spat, "Maybe I should give you the same treatment as your father!"

"I dare you to!" She bristled, baring her teeth right back. Her creatures stirred in anger, standing from their spots to hiss at Deus in warning, lashing their tails to the ground as they snarled and spit, baring their teeth.

The demon did not seem very pleased with this as he lifted a lip in a scowl, gnashing his teeth as he grumbled in anger to the dragonoids, "What, you need your lizards to protect you? It's no wonder you're so much like Leon, you're both pathetic."

"They protect me because they like me. Sorry no one likes you enough to protect your ass!" Turtle argued.

He gave a cruel, incredulous laugh. "I don't NEED protecting!"

She wrinkled her nose. "Your ego surely doesn't!"

"Why do I even waste my time with you?" He sneered, until he relented, and released her shirt roughly to send her to the floor, turning his back to her dramatically as he snuffed his nose at the bristling creatures. "You're not worth my time."

"Then quit coming to me and acting like I am," she muttered coldly, gesturing her dragonoid companions to back down, for now.

Deus gave a harsh exhale, but turned, and stormed away.

She scowled at the back of his head, but looked away, and returned back to the books. That was how most of her interactions with Deus went. In more ways than one, Heredero was just like Deus.

And for some reason,

It ached her to see that in her younger brother.

.

..

...

But she would never admit that.

Not like it would matter anyway. They hated her, she hated them, and that's how it was going to stay.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Vulgarity]

A whole month of nonstop searching...

A whole. Fucking. Month.

And what did Turtle have to show for it? What did she have to present her efforts?

Nothing.

Ab-so-LUTELY,

NOTHING.

"Maybe I should just give up..." Turtle complained defeatedly. Quick Slide nosed her shoulder pityingly, but Armageddon just snorted.

"What's the sudden change?" Her large, reddish-black creature inquired. "You've been so hell bent on finding answers, and now you're just going to give up?"

"What's the point... Mephistos' books are ass at being any help and there's no damn way I can tell anyone in this blasted castle that I want to leave Dark Fall, they'd never help me..." Turtle groaned, swatting at her companion.

Armageddon lurched back with a snap, whipping her tail against the ground with a snarl as she got up to leave. With a pitying look painted on her pale, smooth snout, Quick Slide encouraged, "Maybe it's for the best you don't find anything, you know..."

"You're no help," Two-Step huffed, to which Quick Slide flinched and frowned away. "C'mon Turtle, you haven't wasted everything-"

"It's al-ready been a waste... found nothing, I can't find anything, and I won't find anything..."

"Moody, much?" Armageddon snuffed poutily.

"I'm not moody!! Just realistic!!" Turtle sneered sharply.

"Alright yeah, Turtle, realistic my ass." Armageddon shook her head.

"Well she's got a fair point-" Quick Slide began to mumble.

She was stopped midway when Armageddon slapped her with an enormous paw, sending the smaller creature tumbling off the bed with a scratchy yip.

"Can it, flea bag." Armageddon snarled, clacking her teeth as Quick Slide ducked behind Turtle, tail tucked as she yipped in a squeaky voice, "Ow-! Jeez, ok, ok, ok-ey!"

"Alright, miss mopes-a-lot, think of it this way: you get out of this place, you never have to see Deus, and Nergal, and Beryl, and Mephisto ever again. EVER. You get a whole new place for the lot of us to explore, no worries about these bastards following us," Armageddon lashed her heavy paw against the tiles of her room.

"... And Leon?" Turtle asked slowly.

"He might not survive the transfer, Leon's weak-" Saturn piped.

"Ah' said, CAN IT!" Armageddon swiped her on the snout from over the bed as the Quick Slide snapped her mouth close, her eyes slitted as she grumbled a few vulgarities beneath her breath as the black wolf continued.

"He'll live – we just have to get him first." Armageddon tapped her chin thoughtfully with a claw.

"So are you just going to sit back, mope, and suffer for the rest of your miserable, elongated life here in this shitty hole? Or are you going to get your ass up, stop whining, and go back to looking?"

"."

".."

"..."

".... That was oddly encouraging of you... sigh Alright, fine. I'll give a few more days. A FEW." Turtle finally rumbled, sitting up on her bed.

A few more days can't hurt.

Not sure what I'll find with a few days, but-hah...

I guess I'll see.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: N/A]

After having taken a brief break on account of being sick of reading and reading and more god damn reading, she was back at it.

For the first hour of her persistent searching, nothing came up — no one passed by nor came in search of her (thankfully, mind her).

The next hour, still nothing. Just like the next hour after that.

Though, when she was hunched over in a dark corner of the library, and had gone to complain to Armageddon about bitter nothings, the moment she opened her mouth, Armageddon swatted her gently on the head (nearly sending Turtle face planting to the floor), her head low but ears attentive. Turtle raised a brow — this was unusual behavior for her.

"Look, slowly," she whispered, gesturing her nose.

Turtle slowly turned her head — and spotted Mephisto, his footsteps echoing through the area from his position in the far side of the library.

It wasn't uncommon to see him here, but there was a secretive air about the demon this time. But it didn't seem like he'd spotted her — not yet at least. With a twirl of his hands to draw out a mana rune in the air, he vanished into the wall, and- wait, what?

She'd never seem him disappear into a wall — that was something she'd only ever seen Deus do, but he phased through wall, never just vanished. Both she and Armageddon sat in hidden silence, jaws slack. Roughly around fifteen minutes passed of pure, still silence, until Mephisto emerged, and slunk off — out of the library, into the vast halls of the castle.

"... Go,"

"What?"

"I said go!"

Hustling from her position in the shadows, Turtle emerged, scurrying over to the wall as she rest her open palms against it. Armageddon slunked up next to her as Turtle voiced aloud, "He used some kind of mana to get through here... perhaps if I just-"

Mimicking the motion she observed Mephisto making (which took an embarrassing number of times to replicate so the mana would register the symbol), her arm fell through — and her body toppled after as she hit the cold tile flooring with a sharp squawk. A secret room... how did I never notice Mephisto had this? She scolded herself, standing up as she dusted herself off, staring around the rather chilly room.

The room was cold — but nicely floored with cool, onyx black tiles and paler walls. Hung from the roof were what looked like small planet models, and the wall was pinned with several maps (whether of Dark Fall as a whole or some other land she wants sure). A crystal chandelier hung from the high, dome glass ceiling — which had a nice view of the Dark Fallien (is that what it was called?) permanently-night-looking sky.

Shelves and desks took up a small bit of the room; paper, scattered bottles of ink and quills and a few suspicious vials were placed around the room amongst the desks. "Woah..." she murmured, touching a hand to the carefully carved pillars in each corner of the room. "I never even knew he had this..."

But in truth, it was the shelves that took her attention. Lining the shelves were several books, each bound carefully in a soft material. They looked ancient, but not dusty — like they'd been recently grabbed, or used.

Turtle shuffled on her feet, carefully navigating the mess of a room to reach the shelves. She admiringly, she ran her fingertips against the soft leather, until checking behind her as she pulled one slowly from its place, unfolding it to feel the crackle of the old worn pages and the fading writings.

She would've gotten lost in the readings of runes and words had she not heard Armageddon's claws scraping against the wall that hid this secret room. Panickedly, she grabbed whatever she could carry — which, only ended up being three books because of their weight — until she scrambled out of the hidden study, into the warmer air of Mephisto's main library. He won't notice if a few are missing, right?

...

Nah, he won't notice.

"Quick, back to my room, I gotta look through these!" Turtle ushered to Armageddon, who obliged — sweeping Turtle onto her spine as they hurried from the room, thundered past a bickering Beryl and Deus — and slithered back into Turtle's chambers.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Minor Vulgarity]

"By hell, this is perfect! I can't believe I didn't even have a clue about these!" Turtle exclaimed excitedly with shining eyes as she flipped through the pages, the opened books surrounded around her. "This has everything I need, can you three believe it?!"

"Jesus, finally! I was getting so very sick of having to come to the library with you." Two Step sighed loudly with relief.

Armageddon gave a nod of agreement, excitement sparking around the three of them — all three but Quick Slide. Instead of agreeing with excitement or enthusiasm or even relief, she looked... nervous, more than anything.

"Turtle please, this really isn't a good idea... these runes look complicated and you don't have much experience with copying mana runes... what if you mess something up? What if you get hurt?"

"Oh psh, I'll be fine. C'mon I have to try this!" Turtle disregarded her worries, grabbing the book as she propped it up against a mirror on her desk, feeling the warm glow of mana spiraling from the creases of her palms.

"Turtle, please, be careful-! Don't get caught with those, Mephisto will be furious!" Quick Slide squeaked anxiously as Armageddon and Two Step took a few feet back — just in case.

"I got this, I got this!" Turtle hushed — a little irritated by Quick Slide and her constant need to baby her.

Eyeing the page careful, she held up her palms, trying her damned hardest to follow each step and rune exact. And for a few seconds, it was going alright — well, until she messed the rune up (since no one had really bothered to teach her how to use her mana). The rune she'd drawn into the air sparked, hissing angrily as it flared into a brilliant white flame.

"Yikes!" Yelping as the bright flame burned into her eyes and seared her fingers, she swiped a hand, and the flaming mark in the air vanished just as easily as it had appeared. Hushed silence fell over them as Turtle muttered, "Ok so maybe this'll be a little harder than I thought..."

Several embarrassing efforts and stinging burns on her hand later, Turtle finally reeled away from the rune as it sparked, sending electric veins down through the floor of her room as Armageddon, Quick Slide, and Two-Step squawked, scrambling for high ground to avoid the dangerous tendrils that slithered on her floor like snares.

"Turtle put it out!" Armageddon roared in a panic, claws scraping as she clung to the wall (which was a sight to see for such a massive creature).

"Working on it, god!" Turtle hissed as she wrestled down the origin of the tendrils, earning an aggravated sizzle as the electric snakes slowly fizzled and died out. Angrily, she stamped a foot to the ground, digging her nails into her sore and injured hands as she spat out, "God why is this so hard?!"

Slowly, Armageddon clambered down as Two-Step landed — Quick Slide raining curled up on the bed. Hesitantly, Quick Slide muttered offeringly, "Maybe... I don't know, you should... take a uh, a break..?"

Turtle whirled her head around, teeth bared and eyes narrowed. "No, you lazy bag of bones! I can't stop now, I have everything I need, I just- shit, I need to focus, god-fucking-DAMN IT!"

Quick Slide shot Turtle a hurt expression. Armageddon gave a rumbled snarl that quaked the room, the ground tremor in underneath Turtles feet as the dragonoid creature extended a large claw to bump against tensed fist, pointing out sharply, "Look I'm all about you finally finding what you need, but I need you to take a fat look at your palms and tell me if it's worth continuing right now."

Irritated, she slithered out a sharp breath of frustration, until bringing up her hands, uncurling her fingers to get a look at what she was gesturing at.

Her palms were raw and red from the numbers of failed attempts, small burns scratching at the fingertips from when she'd swiped away flames, wrangled electric tendrils, drawn out rune after rune in the air, etcetera. Faint droplets of blood clung just underneath the surface of her skin, staining her hands a red.

With a pout and pinned ears, she stuffed her frustrations back down, and sighed a long sigh, wiping the blood off on her pants. She pushed back her flaxen blonde hair from her face, grumbling. "Jesus, just... give me a break, damn it."

Quick Slide watched anxiously as Turtle stormed away, disappearing into the castle halls outside of her room, leaving her, Armageddon, and Two-Step behind in the room. Anxiously, she shuffled in the sheets, resting her head against the fabric.

Fuck, she worries me... Quick Slide thought nervously, flicking her long tail. Oh what the hell do I do...

Her eyes drifted over to the three books Turtle had been using, that she had left on the desk.

...

... What do I do...

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Vulgarity]

Her footsteps stormed the castle halls, her hands curled at both of her sides and brow furrowed with Turtle-ly frustrations. She was drained — physically, mentally, and mana-ly (was that even a word?). Normally, for any large injuries — such as when she'd been tousling a little too roughly with Armageddon and nearly got her entire ass arm severed off because of her ginormous fucking claws — Turtle would have gone to Mephisto.

But not with this. She was sure Mephisto could recognize a mana wound, especially ones like this. So she would hold off from seeking out the fucking demon scientist (he seriously freaked her the fuck out), she could heal it herself... sometime later.

Having went to veer around a corner to a main ball room, the clattering footsteps of who she presumed was Nergal and Mephisto echoed nearby, their voices slowly coming into hearing range. 

She hesitated, until immediately retreating behind the pillars, her long ears twitching as she turned her head. She could hear their tones — smooth and bitter sounding as always — but they were further hushed, like a secret. Turtle wrinkled her lip, and thought, What are you two talking about...

"... And they are missing?"

"Indeed, sir. They are missing."

"How many are missing, and how long ago did you notice they were gone?"

"Three are missing. I noticed a perhaps an hour and a half ago. I first believed I had misplaced them, but when I looked further in my private study I found that they were gone."

"Mephisto I am sure you know that those manuscripts are of precious value, yes? I had expected that you would have kept them more securely..."

"I'm aware of my mistakes, Mr. Nergal, but I assure you — they will be found."

"I am expectant of you, Mephisto. Those manuscripts are of priceless value, you will recover them."

"As you wish."

"Now, Mephisto, my other concerns that..."

As their voices slowly faded out of hearing range, Turtle wrinkled a lip, and peeked around a corner just at the bottom hem of Mephisto's white lab coat vanished from the castle halls corner. Manuscripts... I'm sure they're talking about those books. Blasted things'll get me in trouble...

But that can't be all — not with Nergals 'other concerns'. So what else are you two hiding... Carefully, she waited — stepping over the tile as she stealthily slunk down the halls, trying to follow behind as closely as possible. They have things she wants to learn — and she's going to learn it.

A cold touch against her shoulder startled her from her silent sneaking. When she snapped around, she couldn't see anything — invisibility no doubt. Didn't stop her though. Her hands reached out, and she could feel herself grasp cold, invisible skin as she yanked them closer, and landed a right swing to one side of their face.

They reeled back as Turtle hissed in pain, gingerly examining her injured palms as their voice yelping indignantly,

"Ow- hell, what the fuck was that for, you psychopath?!" They spat, slowly shimmering into view as they wiped some running blood from their nose.

Her expression simmered with low anger as they came into view, irritated red eyes glaring down at her. Turtle scoffed loudly. "Heredero?! The hell are you doing here?!"

"What's it look like, I'm eavesdropping! Nergal and Mephisto have been uncharacteristically tense, and I'm going to find out why. Now get out of my way, whore, I can't listen over your repulsive voice." Heredero harrumphed, shoving Turtle aside as he went back to cast his invisibility.

"What?! No, absolutely not!" Turtle quickly hurried up to him, and cast the white fire rune she'd learned from her ridiculous number of mess-ups. "I was here first, go find something else to do!"

"Ack- what the-?!" Heredero yelped, startled with the explosion of brilliant white flame that his sister had crafted. After blundering with confusion, he shut down the rune, and hissed, "Are you trying to get us both caught, you nitwit?! I was here following them LONG before you-"

"If you're coming along, Heredero, I expect SILENCE from you, understand?!" Turtle spat back, shoving him against the corner wall as she slunk back around the corner to catch back up to Nergal and Mephisto before they got too far.

"Hey, but-!" He went to argue — but knowing it was a useless effort to try and convince his sister, he grunted disapprovingly, but swung back over his cloaking invisibility as he snuck close behind her.

The chilly presence of Heredero sneaking after her was an uncomfortable sensation, but regardless she ignored him. Turtle had a mission to do — and she wouldn't let Heredero compromise that. Down the halls they crept, following the sound of Nergal and Mephisto's footsteps, their voices slowly coming back into hearing range, along with the now new addition and Beryl and Deus.

"... But that is a problem for a later date. For now, Mephisto, find where the manuscripts have gone — and return them; I expect that you are capable of that."

"As you wish."

"As for you two, make yourselves useful, Mephisto can only look so fast— go search the castle, every room is to be checked. I expect at least one of you three to be competent enough for such a simple task."

That earned an indignant scoff from Deus — who didn't seem appreciate Nergal's use of such a demeaning tone in regards to him and Beryl. Beryl didn't seem to want to argue against his superior (Turtle had always found Beryl to be a bit of a more nervous demon when he wasn't being a yandere), so he and Deus obliged, and set off alongside Mephisto.

Turtle felt her blood run a little cold. The books... shit, she'd left them out! How how stupid could she be?!

Immediately she back pedaled, and turned to flee as Heredero's voice whispered, "Turtle what are you doing?!"

"I'm not explaining it to you, no time!" Turtle snapped back in the same quiet voice — but Heredero's invisible hand ensnared the white ruffles of her shirt collar, yanking her backwards.

"No, you're going to explain it to me NOW,"

"I said fuck off! You're going to get me in trouble!"

"Just show me, I'm not a snitch!"

"You so are! Now unhand me-!"

"Not until you tell me!"

"Jesus FINE, just snap your fat mouth closed and I'll fucking show you! Now move it, I'm losing time here!"

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Vulgarity]

"You did WHAT?!"

The stolen books were heavy in her hands as she hurried around, searching every corner of her room for a hiding spot — a good one. Meanwhile, Heredero was tailing behind her with a furious, shocked expression on his face that was STRESSING her OUT.

"Yes, I stole them! But you had better not snitch me out or I swear I will drag you down with me!" She hissed. "Now make yourself useful and help me find some place to hide these!"

"No! No way, I am NOT getting in trouble because of YOUR carelessness!" He spat, snatching a book out of her hands as he flipped open the pages with a scowled expression. "What are these even for?"

"Hey! Give that back!" Turtle dropped the other two books, and lunged for Heredero, trying and failing to tackle him down as he exclaimed, "World travelling?! That's what you've been up to?!"

"I said give. That. BACK!" She braced, coiling her legs like a spring as she lunged again, and this time, took her younger brother down to the ground for a vicious scuffle.

"'Give it back' my ass! I'm giving these back to Mephisto before he wrings you out like a wet towel when he finds these in YOUR ROOM!" Heredero bellowed, grunt as Turtle wrestled him for the book back.

"If you don't give me those back RIGHT NOW I swear I'll-" She paused — an idea. As Heredero heaved her off with a full-forced kick, Turtle hit the floor with a thud, heaving as she snapped out when her younger brother went to gather back the books.

"And what's Mephisto going to say when you bring him back all those books?!"

Heredero hesitated, until huffing out haughtily, "He'll thank me for returning them to him, and go toss your useless ass into the demon's den!"

"Yeah? What're you going to tell him huh?! He's going to ask where you found them, how you got them — if these really are as important as Nergal says, it's all a trap! I bet he's waiting for their return so he can catch the thief!" Turtle spat. "You return those to him, you fuck us BOTH over!"

Heredero fell silent for a bit — seeming to ponder that over in his head — until he scoffed, baring his razor sharp teeth. "You're just full of shit, I'm not listening to you!" But his voice wavered — he seemed more like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

Turtle stomped a foot angrily as she stood up again dusting herself off with an irritated look on her face. "Heredero LISTEN TO ME. I am SERIOUS this time! We need to hide those, we're losing time here!"

...

Her brother cast her a bladed look, but she could practically tell the gears were turning in his head. He was thinking it over — that was uh, pretty new actually. Heredero never listened to her.

So Turtle gave a long, long sigh, and held out a hand with the palm up — to which Herdero asked, "The hell happened to your hands?"

"Fire runes are an ass, but that's not the point," Turtle answered a little annoyedly, until continuing in a forcefully calmer voice, "The point is, it is in your best interest that you don't return the books to Mephisto. Think about it — Beryl doesn't waste his time in the library and Deus is probably too stupid to read. Nergal has no reason to take them, and Mephisto owns them. So who does that leave? That leaves us. So no matter what story you make up or whether you or I give them back, we're fucked."

"..." Heredero seemed to teeter on believing her, when he gave a stubborn shake of his head, and opened his mouth to argue.

He didn't get to argue, not when they heard footsteps down the hall — heavy steps. Definitely of Deus.

And then the decision was made. Heredero seized the books, and stuffed them into Turtle's hands, until shoving her to a corner of her room.

"Hey- what are you doing-?!" Turtle whispered, startled.

But Heredero whisper-hissed in her ear, ordering sharply, "Just shut up and get in the corner! Face the wall!"

She gave him an indignant look. "Are you putting me in time-out?! Really?! After that whole speech I coughed out-?"

"No, just, for the love of God SHUT UP!" Heredero exclaimed, tearing a blanket off of her bed as he swung it over him and Turtle.

Turtle hugged the book close as Heredero gripped her arm in an iron fist, and cast his invisibility rune with the other hand — just when Deus stepped into the room.

It was such a weird spectacle, seeing Heredero, the blanket, even herself and the books she was bear hugging just vanish. It was even funnier seeing Deus glare around the room with his annoyed eyes and furrowed look — but neither she nor Heredero seemed to find much humor in the situation at the moment, not with what was practically equivalent to three death sentences gripped in Turtle's hands.

The air was tense, the atmosphere thick as Deus and his crude grumbling slowly trotted around the room, slitted red eyes drifting around Turtles chambers.

... Would Deus notice the mana that Heredero was using? Turtle thought worriedly as Deus came a little too close for comfort, his long ears twitching scrutinizingly. Deus turned to face the corner — and Turtle could have sworn she felt a cold shiver slink down her spine.

For a long time, he stared. Neither Heredero nor Turtle moved, both petrified. Turtle knew why she was scared — but Heredero... it was rare to see Heredero ever scared of anything.

...

After another long few seconds that Turtle swore felt like years, Deus turned away, and plodded from the room. Heredero and Turtle breathed a sigh of relief as Heredero threw off the blanket, her brother shimmering back into view.

"Jesus, I never thought I'd be so happy to see you," Turtle hummed underneath her breath.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything,"

"..."

"Promise you won't snitch on me?" Turtle inquired again, propping open one of the books against the mirror of her desk again.

"Don't give me a reason to and I won't — now let me see that," Heredero harrumphed, nudging Turtle out of the way to get a look at the changing spell.

Chapter Text

[WARNING, this chapter contains: Minor Vulgarity]

Cold wind sweeped over the top tiles of the castles high roofs. Desolate rocks were laid still below, the near grumbling of terrifying creatures and monster of all shapes and sizes lumbering in caves and stone valleys below. A haze hung permanently in the air, casting a constant dark and shady look no matter what time it was.

Up on the roof, waited Quick Slide, who fiddled with the tip of her tail.

She was nearly startled off from the roof when the massive, purple winged and white bellied form of Two-Step swept over her, heavy wings beating as she slowly landed to the roof, hooking the talon fingers of her leathery wings into the tiles of the castle roof. Armageddon was the last to arrive, grunting with the effort to heave her large and heavy dragonoid body up to the top of the roof, the tiles creaking and groaning underneath her as she hissed softly, and sat down, flexing her talons over tile to scrape in long grooves.

"Quick Slide, why have you asked us to gather here?" Armageddon rumbled wearily. "I was in the middle of sleeping, couldn't it have waited?"

"Well, technically yes, but-" She started, only to be interrupted by Two-Step.

Two-Step turned, her scaly tail and razor-sharp tail fan slithering against the roof as her heavy back feet thundered on the tiles with her sheer size. "If it can wait, then I'm leaving. I was in the middle of a hunt, and I'm not letting that blasted ball of skin and mana taunt me and get away with it for a third time-"

"Hey, hey, hey, ok-! Ok, I get it, so maybe it was... urgent, but-but that's not the point!" Quick Slide scaled over the roof to plop herself down in front of Two-Step, holding up her front two talons to halt her. "Just listen... please?"

"Well then, spit it out!" Two-Step reluctantly growled, slowly perching back onto the roof hem.

Quick Slide flicked a tattered ear, and explained,  "The thing is, I'm... worried, about Turtle. She's just been getting into some dangerous territory as of the last few months and I really don't want her getting hurt-"

"Please, Quick Slide, we've heard this same talk from you a hundred times before." Armageddon groaned loudly. "What Turtle does is Turtle's business. It's really damn hard to kill someone or Dark Fall heritage — even a half-breed one. Turtle is going to be just fine."

"No, you're not listening! This is different, this is serious!" Quick Slide pleaded. "She's going to kill herself doing this! Risking it with a rift to a different world is going to be her downfall! She could be killed on the way, Turtle doesn't even know where she's going to end up! What if she dies-?"

Armageddon snarled irritably. "Quick Slide. For the last time. Turtle can handle herself. That's what she has mana for."

"But-" She tried.

"But nothing. Lay off it, she doesn't need to be baby sat."

"It's not baby sitting! God, won't you just hear me out, just this once-?"

"You're being silly, Quick Slide." Two-Step sighed, patting Quick Slide patronizingly on the head with a wing. "Trust in her — even through as much trouble as she causes."

Quick Slide gawked open her mouth. "Wh- So neither of you are going to do anything about it?!"

"Nope." Armageddon huffed, slinking down slowly with lumbered steps to vanish off the roof.

She turned — and with pleading eyes, she begged Two-Step, "Please, you must know this is dangerous!"

Two-Step seemed to waver for a moment, until she gave a shake of her horned head, slithering her forked tongue in between her teeth as she said: "She won't learn to not touch the stove unless she gets burnt."

"But- Rrrgh, FINE! If you won't do anything, then I will!" Quick Slide shouted after her.

"Then what are you going to do?!"

Two-Steps returned shout made Quick Slide snap her mouth shut as she pondered over it with fretted worry. Shit... what am I going to do?

Chapter Text

Hey there!

So, it's been a bit since I last updated my work of fiction – school's a real killer when it comes to my motivation to write a new chapter. Especially around the holidays, everything gets really busy – but I coughed up the time in my classes to write an intermission chapter.

________________________________________________________________________________

In regard to my work of fiction, I've been stumped for quite a while on the storyline and how it'll fit into the ending, as for how I want it to progress. I've been struggling a tad bit on the speed of progression, what I want the ending to result in, and how the characters should develop in the end – for better or for worse.

Overall, I feel a little scarce in potential results with what I've built up before now to what it'll end up with in the future, which leads me into my main reason for this update:

I intend to take my work of Fanfiction, Chance Or Two, and scrap everything I currently have in favor of a new piece that'll be a little more fleshed out, thought through, and true to its origin, Dark Fall. I've got a lot in store for it, and many ideas and big plans in the works of being added in and organized that I wouldn't be able to include with what I have currently set up, which leaves me two options:

One, I can drop Chance or Two as a whole to start working on the new piece immediately,

or two, I can wrap up Chance or Two with the ending I had planned for it and take a period of time to start the rough drafting on the new piece (which will likely be given a new name to separate it from its predecessor) – which is the option I'm most likely going to take.

And of course, with this new redirection I've decided to take – when I cut the former plot, it'll mean some characters may have to go too to make room for new ones that'll serve the purpose.

My biggest change in the terms of character cuts is scrapping Turtles faithful dragonoid companions: Two-Step, Quick Slide, and Armageddon. When I revised my plans for the new plot, they would have been unnecessary additions to the story that would have simply added clutter – so their likely future is that they'll be stashed away in an invisible shoe box to collect dust on my figurative shelves.

Turtle of course will stay – but likely with a few tweaks and changes to her character design and overall development unless I decided to pick a different route for the Fanfiction. As for her brother, Heredero, he is likely going to stay, but he is an uncertain addition as well – but in the case he does stay, he will get a new design and likely a few changes to his character as well, and perhaps a new name since Heredero was originally meant to be a placeholder until I figured out a real name.
Besides scrapping and potential character changes, I won't spoil too much on what else I have in store for the rewrite of Chance Or Two!

With that out of the way, I'll be doing my best to try and finish the final chapter updates to Chance or Two, your patience through it has been greatly appreciated!

Merry Christmas, happy holidays!

– Hawkeye

Chapter Text

Six some months went forward and past -- with Turtle and her never-ending determination, despite the uneasy warnings from her brother.

Non-stop was a good description of how she'd spent her time. Under the covered privacy of her private quarters, she practiced -- through weary day and weary night. Of course, the patrolling demons -- not even considering Mephisto, Deus, Nergal and Beryl -- were a problem. Discreetly, she had had to get rid of two of them (but who would've cared to notice? No one, clearly, since no demon had taken the time to try and find the bodies).

And finally, it all led to now -- now, the moment when all that effort was proven to not have been to hell.

"Turtle, you have to hold your hands still-" Her brother grunted.
She hardly heeded her brothers' words, the scarred palms of her hands boiling with sweat as she hissed back ponderously, "Shut up, I have it!"

Her brother scowled down bitterly at her, prattling a noise from the deeper bowels of his chest when Turtle yanked her hands back with a hiss, wiping the reddened, sweat-drenched skin off on the soft fabric of the garments she wore. "God damn it, never mind... let me try that again."

Again, Heredero was silent, but when she glanced to the expression on his face, he seemed more... awe-struck than anything.

"... What?" Turtle inquired, slowly turning back.

And to her utter amount of suffocating surprise, the rift she had been struggling to open had remained. It was there, glittering and bright. Her eyes widened -- as if they were going to pop out of the sockets in her head. "I... I actually did it."

"I would congratulate you if I wasn't so shocked, give me a minute to recuperate," her brother murmured, watching as Turtle jammed a hand through the small rift, seeming to grope around, before retrieving her arm back and rubbing the skin.

"Jesus, that's weird... I don't feel anything, but the rift is open... I must've suspended it in the sky." Turtle sighed, before her brother gave her a pat on the shoulder that was almost reassuring.

Slowly, he spoke, "... Well, doesn't matter. If you can just make it a little bigger this could work."

Turtle gave a shake of her head. "I can't -- that's the biggest I can open it, I don't have the mana reserves."

"You'll figure out something. But for now, we marvel."

"... Yeah, sounds good."

---

Her feet clambered uneasily beneath her as she made way through the castle, following the mental directions and the distinctive trail of mana left behind from Nergal. She found him, alone, in his quarters -- though he did not seem the least bit pleased to see her, a mutual feeling.

But it a necessary one. She had to do something.

"... Nergal?" She rumbled softly.

"Two-step," he greeted with a sigh, "what is it? It had better be important, I am incredibly busy."

"..."

"Well?"
"There's something you need to know.

Chapter Text

Something was wrong that day.

It reeked all over with a kind of pungent anonymity that unsettled Turtle to the deepest bone she had. But that didn't matter. She was doing it today -- escaping.

In hindsight it was reckless, trying to open a rift without the proper mana reserves by any means to truly hold it open. But with Herederos' offer to help her keep the rift open -- since with Turtle gone, he would no longer have to deal with her antics -- she was confident.

So they'd made their way -- as discreetly as they could -- to the old and weathered room that Turtle had found two months ago and assumed was an old room to summon rifts as she were going to do. At least, that's all she could assume from the withered old murals that were painted on the wall, fading words inscribed with past care -- back when Dark Fall had perhaps been a lush place.

But one could only assume.

"Alright, we've got one chance to open a rift -- a real big one -- before someone notices." Turtle informs her brother while she thunks the heavy book against the dusty cloud to upheave a cloud of dust. He doesn't speak as he inquires her, eyes flitting back warily to the entrance point of the old room.

"And... here was your first idea?" He says skeptically, earning a grunt from Turtle.
"What's wrong with doing it here?" She asks.
Heredero gave a grimace, fanning some dust away from his face as he mutters. "No no, it's not, eh, terrible, but-"

"Good! We do it here then." Turtle says with finality as she turns away from Heredero and thumbs through to find the page. Her brother doesn't answer this time as Turtle raised her hands, her brother slowly following. "Alright, ready?"

"Yeah, yeah, start it." Heredero said impatiently.

"Ok, lets-" She started, when she suddenly yanked away, earning a startled look from Heredero. "Wait! I have to get Leon!"

She stood up fast, and scattered away as her brother shouted behind her, "Wh- Turtle! We don't have time for that! Just get him later!"

"There isn't a later, just guard the book, I won't be gone long!" Turtle exclaimed.

She made way with swift efficiency through the hall, taking care to avoid any of the other servant demons. Turtle located Leon in the library after a stretch of searching, gripping her nails around his arm as she jumped, startled by her presence. he didn't manage to convey his surprise to her before she spoke first, "Come with me, quick,"

"Why-? What-?" Leon began, but she urged him along fast. And reluctantly he followed as Turtle explained. "I've got us a way out -- but you'll have to trust me."

Leon was quiet, but she knew he was doubtful. She didn't blame it, but his unsureity over the matter was wounding. 

So, they returned, and she called out to the room, "Alright let's do this," but she glanced around, and noticed that Heredero was sitting rather stiffly, fidgeting. And the book was nowhere to be seen. A sudden dread sank into her as his eyes flitted up to her. Slowly she spoke, "... Where's the book?"

"... Sorry sis." Heredero mumbled. "He got to it first."

"Who?" She replied before feeling a cold hand dig into her shoulder. Literally. Immediately, her head flashed up, and she met with the frustrated red eyes of Nergal.

"Turtle," he snarled, chilly voice making Turtles blood go icy, "you have some explaining to do."

"I- but-" She stammered. How had he noticed? She'd done everything in secret...

He slitted his eyes as Leon tugged Nergal's hand off her shoulder and pulled Turtle back. He rumbled, "Dare you think I don't know the rooms of my own castle? Pitiful. But it doesn't matter -- your pale creatures fret over you should've been a big enough sign."

Pale creatures fret over- and then it clicked.

Two-Step had ratted her out. How could she?! It boiled inside of her -- but now wasn't the time to piss angrily over it. She'd do that when she was safe on the other side.

"But no matter. I will deal with you." Nergal sighed, moving to snatch Turtle.

He didn't get that chance, not before Leon fended him back with a seethed expression, spitting out: "What do you care if she's gone? It's not like Heredero's coming with her."

The demon lord sneered down at Leon. "I don't care if she gone. It's the fact that she's roped in her brother to her antics. Now leave this room. You're lucky I haven't killed you already."

"Fuck off, Nergal." He rebutted back angrily.

Turtle took this chance to sneak from the two of them as Heredero snatched her arm and yanked her close, hissing, "Leon's distracting Nergal, c'mon, this is the only shot we've got!"

"But we don't have the book-!" Turtle began.

"You don't need the damn book, you've practiced those runes a hundred times, do it from memory!"

"If I leave now he'll kill Leon, I can't-"

"I will figure that out, now do the damn rune -- he can't distract him for long!"

Turtle gripped her hands, and frantically moved, tracing the rune from her memory and slamming it to the ground. The hiss of the opening rift immediately caught Nergal's attention as he bared teeth in anger. Heredero strained to pick up the slack from the rift as they worked to drag it open.

With their combined mana, it worked. She couldn't believe it.

Nergal shouted something -- she didn't hear, nor did she care as her brother exclaimed, "Fucking go, Turtle, I've got it!"

For a short moment she met her brothers' eyes, and murmured, "... Thanks, Heredero." Before she braced her legs, tumbled through, and prayed for the best.

Chapter Text

Her mind was awake first before her body. She knew her consciousness was aware, but nothing was moving like a state of paralysis. Not her arms, not her legs, definitely not her eyelids. An awful ringing was racking through her skull, and she couldn't seem to get it out of her head.

Was she awake?

Was she alive?

Was this a limbo state?

Turtle strained, groaning softly as her body followed in pursuit to slowly, sluggishly, regain control. After a long moment, she was able to force her eyes open.

The first face she saw was her brother. Her brother? Had she missed the opening? But she couldn't have, this wasn't anything like Dark Fall.

Thick green blades tickled at her wounded skin, a sweet breeze lapping over her, as if curious about the new stranger. And the sky was blue, so very blue.

Her brother spoke, his words were muffled as Turtle dragged herself into a sit up, massaging at her head. At her silence, Heredero frowned, flicking her on the head as he spoke a little louder, his tone clearing as the ringing dripped away. "Can you come to consciousness a little faster? There's so much to tell you, you've been out for hours!"

"... Have I?" she said hoarsely, blinking away the blood from her eyes.

"No, that was a joke." He replied. "But still, get up, come on!"

"I... God, never mind... where are we?" Turtle continued. "... And why are you here?"

"Nergal can't kill Leon if he doesn't have his heir, now can he?" Heredero said smugly. "And as for where we are-"

"You're in mortal lands." A voice answered. Not her voice, not her brothers, not a voice of anyone they knew. She turned around, blurry vision straining to focus.

Standing close nearby was a man. His gray skin rippled with muscle, arms folded across his chest. He was sharply features, adorning a darkly colored outfit of mostly monochrome colors and forearm sleeves of the same monochrome color. His hair was long and dark brown-gray, eyes a pale, pale purple with jabbed black markings like strips coming down from the corners of his eyes to his cheeks. He flicked a long, pointed ear as she stared down at her.

Skeptically, Turtle wrinkled her expression, her brother intervening, "He's friendly. At least I think so -- he woke me up first."

But Turtle wasn't convinced, rumbling out, "... Who are you?"

The man stared cooly down at her, narrowing his eyes as he answered, "... Cliff. I'm sure you both have a lot to explain."

Chapter Text

Salutations, reader!

Since you're currently reading this, I assume you have read through the entirety of my fanfiction (and if you haven't and just clicked on the last chapter, I don't blame you for that either. It's the thought that counts), and for that I thank you! Originally, I had thought this would've been an abandoned project that I would start and let marinate on my account — I had never thought I'd actually get around to finishing the fanfiction.

So as a thank you for all the support and patience you dear readers have had with me (and gratitude for hitting 4 thousand views before the posting anniversary of Chance Or Two on March 8th of 2024, thanks again!), I thought I'd post a bonus chapter. The contents of this chapter will mostly be scraps of writing and potential outcomes for the work I'd worked on in my free time when I wasn't focused on writing the actual work of fanfiction. This chapter is going to be a bit longer than the rest because I do a lot of free writings with my characters, and the timelines won't be consistent because none of these were written with intention to be permanent -- in short, they were trial runs.

After this I'll be going on hiatus for a bit to continue working on the remastered version of this current work. Thank you for your support, happy readings!

-- Hawkeye

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 The demons came in swarms like hornets — each as eager as the last.

There were all kinds — pure demons or mutt mixes, didn't matter. They all came for the same reason, on the same call: to see which creature of this dark heritage could get Leon to be laden with a child.

Her eyes narrowed slowly down to the demons that flocked for the Imperial castle of Dark Fall.

She did not come down from the spiritual perch that was the Interrealm very often, and when she did it was either in disguise or in a spiritual state so she could not be seen. Smoothing out the kirk of her grand robes, she turned and whisked off towards the castle herself. Confronting Nergal would be a poor idea, and confronting any of his higher subordinates was a poor idea too — all she could think of was Leon, who neither had power nor any positive feelings towards any of Nergals subordinates.

The claws of her canid feet clacked on the ground as she slowly strutted through the inners of the castle grounds — muttering quietly as she passed the hustling lower demons before she decisively picked one to possess for her purpose. Taking on bodies was swift, but the cold and dying chill that swept onto her when she possessed a more mortal body wasn't her favorite.

The body had spasmed in surprise at first, jaw unhinging as if they wanted to shout, but she swiftly silenced them and took control, practically dragging the body through the castle.

When she finally came upon the door that would lead her to Leon, she stepped quietly through it — nearly gagging at the feel of the door on her hands — before swiftly composing herself, eyes landing onto the disgraced demon king as he sat slumped by the window, his head against window with folded arms as he observed the small swarms of demons by the entrance to the Imperial castle.

His expression was cold, leg shaking restlessly — perhaps with that underlying anxiety she saw painting beneath his outward expression.

She tilted her head quietly, her expression blank when he turned his head to scorn her with slitted violet eyes. But upon noticing that strange crescent mark on the lower demon's head that had definitely not been there before, his annoyed face slowly dropped into what was more akin to confusion.

"Leon," she spoke through the demon's mouth, the voice stranger and weird as the spirit of the body she'd possessed struggled and retaliated. She grunted with the effort to stash away the soul — since this body wasn't her domain, it was harder to retain control.

"..." Leon didn't respond, seeming hesitant to initiate anything with the strange lower demon, before he slowly spoke, sitting up a little straighter. "Yes? What?"

"Excuse my sudden appearance" She spoke again, glancing to the window he sat by. "I have little time until Nergal senses my presence within the castle."

Leon perked skeptically, though she continued. "There is very little I can do to help you now, disgraced king."

"... Who are you? What are you talking about?" Leon grumbled, raising his head from the window he leaned against to eye her coldly.

"Who or what I am is not important." She answered vaguely. "I will make this quick: you are running out of time — and all I can do is give you more."

"Whether you like it or not, you will bear the child of one of these demons — I have seen it. The only thing I can do is change the outcome just a bit. You will not feel the change but you will know it once the child is born."

Leon didn't ask, too startled and uneasy to speak out what was definitely plaguing his head. She stared down at him. "Keep looking for a way out, there is one somewhere. I am not permitted to interfere anymore than I already am — so the mind of the demon I overtook 

------------------------------------>

The bristling mass of short, pale blue and white-flecked fur was all his red eyes could see as the viciously fanged deity paced the manor tower — baring white teeth and peering widened eyes into the innermost that she couldn't reach with such an immense size.

"Nergalllll..." The creature boomed in a hissing voice, hooked gray claws tearing across the pitch black that was tiled over on the outer wall.

The only thing that kept both him and his right-hand servant safe from those snarling jaws was the guardian hex they'd casted over the tower upon the initial chase the other-widely deity had initiated.

Nergal wrinkled his nose in a sneer, his head turning to follow every slither of the wolfish creature. "I should've killed you first when I had the chance-"

The creature rumbled a low voice, thick smog hissing from it's wrinkled lips as it pressed the side of its head against one of the finely-arched windows — peering their large eyes in to stare at him and Mephisto, a cool white glow washing over the two of them and the dark room around them. "You could never kill me — I can not be killed."

"For such a self-righteous demon — you are naive, Nergal.  Naive."

He tensed with irritation as the wolf deity continued. "You dare try and wipe my realm from the universe. The impudence."

She snarled out loud, trembling the ground underneath their feet while she spat aloud, "The only reason you ever managed to overtake the throne from Leon is because his power was lost when you dared disrupt my world. You are weak, overconfident."

"You're all bark and no bite, mutt." Nergal countered, leaning by the window sill that she peeked in through. "I can't kill you — but that doesn't mean no one can."

A furious growl erupted from the deep red of the bowels in her throat. "You dare set even one of your filthy hairs inside my world again, and I will return and tear the dump you call 'Dark Fall' in pieces until there's nothing left but trash to be forgotten."

Nergal wasn't even given the chance to counter before the beast flared her mighty white wings, beating them furiously to take air — the force of the speed needed to start flight and lift up her heavy weight tearing into the room, nearly toppling both Mephisto and Nergal over as the deity caught flight, vanishing into the dusty fog that hung dark overhead.

Mephisto slowly stood back up, dusting off his ruffled white lab coat as he turned back to Nergal with a silent inquiry in his eyes.

"... Mephisto," Nergal slowly began, "prepare me something, would you?"

"Yes Mr. Nergal."

------------------------------------>

It didn't quite matter, did it? Not anymore.

It didn't matter how much mana he had been desperately dumping into the land — it was collapsing. He could tell, he could feel it.

And god he had never felt anything worse than the awful, foreign weight in the air as the realm slowly began to fall in on itself.

Nergal grunted aloud, slowly leaning on the windowsill of the large castle, his long gray hair spilling down as he closed his eyes, and wracked his brain. Wracked his brain in vain for anything to fix the unfixable.

But something hit him,

literally.

It was a gentle touch, a small caress of something foreign. Nergal's sharp red eyes fluttered open, his fingers reaching out to snatch the thing that had brushed over his cheek. A petal, small and softly pink, freshly creased in his finger.

How strange... he thought, twirling it over in his fingers. Life has never sprouted here — not Dark Fall — so where it came from...

------------------------------------>

 .

..

...

Maybe this is a bad idea.

She peeked around the corner, Saturn at her heels as her white wolf tried in vain to find Leon. The maze spells on the place we're making it a difficult ordeal to locate the fallen king.

But we're already here, and we can't find a way out damn it... Turtle sighed, and gave Saturn the go-to to continue through the castle.

Saturn gave an indignant whine, but huffed, and began to walk once more regardless. It was like locating a maze with no exit or enter. Hell, they'd be lucky to even find where they came in from. It would take an act of god to find Leon...

Saturn made a left turn, and pawed at a closed door with a satisfied look on her bright white face.

... Huh, she thought as she slowly pushed open the door, so as to not raise an alarm to any of the higher demons, maybe we are a little lucky today.

Turtle poked her head in to notice the disgraced king leaning against a window sill, staring out into the desolate land beyond the castle. When he turned to glare at her with his sharp, luminous purple eyes, his blonde-tan hair hanging loosely at his shoulders.

"... Who the hell are you?" Leon asked in a sharp tone of voice, as if it were bladed.

"Doesn't matter right now, I'll tell you later," Turtle said after a brief moment's hesitation, "but I have an important question,"

Leon raised a brow at her, and stood up a little straighter, his expression still frowning, but there was a relative hint of curiousness.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

Chapter Text

Greetings and hello again!

I hope this finds you all well—for I come bearing good news! For those of you who read both the intermission chapter and my last announcement in my work, Chance or Two, you’ll know that I have been on hiatus to work on the remaster. As of now, I have found great success in organizing plot and characters for my work, and am happy to announce that I have started the writing process!

As of now, I plan to split the story into 3 parts which will be formatted into 3 short books or 3 arcs in one book–that part is still in debate. And, as an optional should I get around to it, I also have a prequel and sequel in the works that continue to build off the main storyline from two different perspectives with their own unique views to continue the world building I have organized for this story!

I’ve also been going back and forth with myself on adding illustrations into the book which I will be drawing myself since I didn’t learn how to draw people for nothing.

Besides that, I've updated my username on all my socials! You can now find me on Art Fight, TikTok, and Wattpad under the user RED_EYED_DUCHESS! Support on me and/or my projects is incredibly appreciated!

I’m really excited to be able to share my passion project with you all, and I hope you enjoy my AU of Dark Fall!

Expect for the first chapter of my remastered work to be out sometime this summer! I’m still working on a name, but you’ll know when it’s posted because it’ll be the only other work I have out. Keep an eye out, many thanks!

— R.E.D

Chapter Text

Greetings and hello again!

I hope this finds you all well—for I come bearing good news! For those of you who read both the intermission chapter and my last announcement in my work, Chance or Two, you'll know that I have been on hiatus to work on the remaster. As of now, I have found great success in organizing plot and characters for my work, and am happy to announce that I have started the writing process!

As of now, I plan to split the story into 3 parts which will be formatted into 3 short books or 3 arcs in one book–that part is still in debate. And, as an optional should I get around to it, I also have a prequel and sequel in the works that continue to build off the main storyline from two different perspectives with their own unique views to continue the world building I have organized for this story!

I've also been going back and forth with myself on adding illustrations into the book which I will be drawing myself since I didn't learn how to draw people for nothing.

Besides that, I've updated my username on all my socials! You can now find me on Art Fight, TikTok, and AO3 under the user RED_EYED_DUCHESS! Support on me and/or my projects is incredibly appreciated!

I'm really excited to be able to share my passion project with you all, and I hope you enjoy my AU of Dark Fall!

Expect for the first chapter of my remastered work to be out sometime this summer! I'm still working on a name, but you'll know when it's posted because it'll be the only other work I have out. Keep an eye out, many thanks!

— R.E.D

Chapter Text

Whew it's been a long summer! Fun fact, I actually had planned to get this out not this week but like a week later, but unfortunately my school appears to be starting a tad earlier than I had expected (that or I just wasn't paying attention, which I wouldn't put past me either), but since I promised to publish it in the summer of 2025, I finally have it!

On the way I had a few setbacks with having to change the story a bit to fit the already posted chapters of Dark Fall because I wanted the story to remain as accurate as possible while still being an AU that's uniquely different alongside working on other side projects–but, in spite of all that, I'm incredibly excited to announce the release of the complete rewrite of my work Chance or Two to Wattpad (and to AO3!) Featuring a freshly revised and redone set of character, as well as a new storyline, I believe it's gonna turn out far better than the original fanfiction did (and even if it doesn't, I'm still going to work on it!).

Stand on Business [1]  is currently out on my account now–though I only have the prologue posted for now. I suggest that if you've made it this far into Chance or Two that you go ahead and read the revised version–since I find it to be an extreme improvement from the original story!

This is going to be my last update on Chance or Two, as my efforts will be focused onto Stand on Business from here on out. If you have any questions, you can find me on TikTok, Art Fight, and AO3 under the same user as I have here, RED_EYED_DUCHESS. Thank you so much for all your support, I am incredibly grateful, and it really keeps me going!

Go read Stand on Business!

– R.E.D